Freedom Museum leaving Tribune Tower

January 30, 2009

Three years after it opened, the McCormick Freedom Museum is closing its doors in Tribune Tower, opting instead to take its lessons in free speech and civic responsibility directly to schools and other venues by using mobile displays.

The McCormick Foundation, the charitable trust that owns and operates the 10,000-square-foot museum, said Friday that the doors will close March 1.

The museum, built at a cost of $10 million, opened in April 2006 and takes up the first and second floors of the Tribune Tower annex at 445 N. Michigan Ave. Among the factors in the decision to leave the prime location was Tribune Co.'s uncertain plans for the landmark building, said David Grange, president and chief executive officer of the foundation.

"We didn't want to find ourselves down the road in a reactive mode, having to move out on short notice," he said. "We wanted to be able to shape our future and be proactive."

Tribune Co., operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, said last year that it was looking to maximize the value of Tribune Tower, which could include the building's sale.

Grange said about 100,000 of the Freedom Museum's 200,000 visitors came last year when the museum dropped its $5 admission fee. He also credited the growth in attendance to "a better job of marketing and reaching out to tell the public who we are and what we are doing."

The museum's exhibit hardware and other components will move to Cantigny Park in Wheaton, where the foundation operates the Robert R. McCormick and the First Infantry Division museums. Both have exhibit areas the Freedom Museum will occasionally use.

But the main thrust of the museum's work will be to educate the public with mobile exhibits housed in converted buses or tractor trailers.

"The number of people going to museums in general has been declining," said Grange. "It has not been as robust a business as it had been, and a lot of institutions are getting out beyond their walls like we are doing."

A Tribune Co. spokesman said there are no immediate plans for the museum space, previously home to a Hammacher-Schlemmer shop.

The McCormick Foundation, formerly known as the McCormick Tribune Foundation, is an independent entity from Tribune Co., which owns the Chicago Tribune.

The museum plans to maintain offices elsewhere on Michigan Avenue, but at lower cost. It may also have to lay off two people, Grange said.

Grange acknowledged that losing the permanent location is a disappointment. "My heart and soul is in that place," he said, "but in the long run it will be more cost effective for us."